Randstad Portugal Implements Storage and Data Replication Solution

"The stability of the solution, the ease of managing and integrating it with storage virtualization services, as well as the flexibility and expansion capacity of the processing, are the added value components of the solution implemented by Fujitsu. Storing large volumes of data and the online and analytical processing of all the information generated by our operations has been a challenge we have overcome in the last four years, with this storage solution forming one of the cornerstones of the success we have achieved"

Luís Monteiro,
CTO, Randstad Portugal

The customer

Established 50 years ago, Randstad is the second largest Human Resource company worldwide and the No. 1 in Portugal. The Group operates in 39 countries offering global solutions for market and staff requirements. The solutions they provide include Recruitment and Selection, Temporary Work, Contact Centers, Outsourcing, IT Consulting and Training.

The challenge

Randstad Portugal had been seeking a data replication and backup solution that could also guarantee to meet an increase in their centralized storage capacity and was capable of supporting its data center virtualization strategy.

The solution

In 2010, they implemented the Fujitsu NetApp V3000 range, which allowed for virtualization of existing storage, an increase in the available capacity of the storage infrastructure and in turn, consolidated management of all the existing equipment.

Simultaneously, equipment from the FAS2000 range was implemented for the disaster recovery site, with the same capacity as the main site, and a solution for automating the replication of information consistently to ensure the backup and recovery of data in the event of a disaster.

The benefit

Randstad Portugal managed to integrate software that provided for centralized management of all the various geographically disparate systems.

In addition to the equipment implemented at the main and disaster recovery sites, two units from the NetApp FAS2000 range were installed in the business’ Contact Center operations to store and replicate data for the main site as a means of backing up information.

Better performance and versatility

With this technological renewal, Randstad Portugal achieved increased performance of its systems (better IOPS performance), better scalability and a versatility that was experienced in the daily use of its available applications.

This acknowledged increase in the performance of the storage infrastructure allowed for a reduction in the work put into systems administration with a resulting benefit for users and the business.

70% efficiency gains

In terms of storage capacity for virtual machines, the use of the Thin Provisioning and Deduplication Technology was a huge benefit to Randstad Portugal in the effective management of its storage; providing it with efficiency gains in excess of 70% in terms of space used in the storage system.

Another benefit of this solution (and one of the principal reasons Randstad chose it) was the lower bandwidth requirement in implementing the infrastructure and the data recovery process in the event of a disaster. The estimated bandwidth was 90% lower than initial predictions.

Luís Monteiro, CTO, Randstad Portugal, points out:

“The stability of the solution, the ease of managing and integrating it with storage virtualization services, as well as the flexibility and expansion capacity of the processing, are other added value components of the solution implemented by Fujitsu. Storing large volumes of data and the online and analytical processing of all the information generated by our operations has been a challenge we have overcome in the last four years, with this storage solution forming one of the cornerstones of the success we have achieved.”